The first 71 minutes of Saturday night’s OIA Division II girls soccer championship game amounted to a high-octane practice session for Cierra-Lynn Ramirez.

At least eight times, Waialua’s Ramirez sprinted up the middle for a rush on goal — and failed, mainly due to the defense of Kalani fullback Rovi Porter.

Finally, Ramirez got what she was looking (and practicing) for in the 72nd minute, when she gathered in a 30-yard through ball up the middle from Ashley Nakoa-Kawahakui. This time, there were no extra touches, no mistakes, nothing going wide. Instead, Ramirez drilled a low shot to the left corner past Falcons goalkeeper Heather Mar for a 1-0 win at Castle High and a league championship for the state-tournament-bound Bulldogs (4-6-2).

"I know, yes, I did have a lot of chances," said Ramirez, when asked what took so long to net the game-winner. "There were about 10 minutes left and my heart was racing and the crowd was cheering. I didn’t want it to go to overtime. As soon as I scored, my heart just dropped, I looked at my team and I pointed to God."

For Ramirez, who was cut from Mililani’s girls soccer team a year ago, it was a moment of redemption.

"I wanted to play so badly last year," she said. "I definitely wanted to play this, my senior year."

Waialua dominated Kalani (4-5-3) in time of possession and scoring chances.

"Most teams that have been successful against us this year have done that, tried to go up the middle on us," Kalani head coach Myles Arakawa said. "We don’t have the bodies or the speed that can keep up. After a tough (semifinal) game against Nanakuli, our girls just didn’t have the legs."

Arakawa said it would have been difficult for his team had it gone to an overtime period.

"They were just out (of gas)," he said.

Porter, who booted the ball away a handful of times on Ramirez’s sprints, said, "I’m sad that we lost, but we gave it a good shot."

Mar was busy all night long, making saves left and right on Ramirez, Emma Knott and Dalles Young-Toledo.

For Waialua, it’s celebration time.

"Make no mistake, Kalani is a great team," coach Tim Kawakahui said. "We attacked more, but you can’t take them cheap. They made it hard for us to score.

"This is a great thing for our school. We played most of the Red (Division I) teams in the first part of the season and took a beating. It helped us get ready for what was to come and helped us realize that we can’t give up."

Added Ramirez: "We wanted to bring this (title) home."